Bbm69 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bbm69 — shell voicings
Bbm69 is Bb, Db, F, G and C — Bbm6 with the ninth added as well.
It sounds cool and entirely at rest. No seventh, so nothing leans: a common last chord of a minor tune.
Bbm69 notes and formula
| Bb | Db | F | G | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 6 | 9 |
Minor tonic — nothing in it is pulling.
Also written Bbm6/9, Bbmin6/9 or Bb-6/9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bbm69
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Bbm69 has 3 of them, on the bottom four strings, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from the 4th fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Bb shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with 6455xx — no barre and low, at the 4th fret. None of the shapes for Bbm69 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 4th fret. 5 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 4th fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6455xx | 4th fret | Bb, root position | C | all fretted |
| x45566 | 4th fret | Db, 1st inversion | Bb | all fretted |
| 6x5668 | 5th fret | Bb, root position | C | barred |
| 6x8688 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | C | barred |
| xx8688 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | C | barred |
| x88688 | 6th fret | F, 2nd inversion | C | barred |
| 9-8-8-10-8-8 | 8th fret | Db, 1st inversion | C | barred |
| x-13-11-12-13-x | 11th fret | Bb, root position | C | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 12 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 14 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bbm69, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (Eb).
How to use Bbm69
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bbm69 is Cm7♭5 to F7♭9: the ii and the V of Bb minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Bbm69 belongs to F minor (the iv, the subdominant) and Ab major (the ii, the supertonic).
What to play over Bbm69
Every note of Bbm69 is in Bb dorian and Bb melodic minor.
Chords near Bbm69
Change one note of Bbm69 and you have Bbm6 (drop the ninth), Bbm9 (the sixth becomes a flat seventh), BbmMaj9 (the sixth becomes a major seventh), Bbmadd9 (drop the sixth) or Bb69 (the minor third becomes a major third).
Bbm69 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Bbm69’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 1989). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.